


Keep Me in Check

by Rintacchi



Category: Vocaloid
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff, I'm just fricken thirsty over this ship, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Ithink??? idunnofff, Lencest, Lightning Stone (Module), LightningxRadical, M/M, Multi, Radical Star (Module), howdoyoudothis, len modules, maybe other ships too idunno, project diva, project diva X, school setting, tutoring au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:20:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23423848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rintacchi/pseuds/Rintacchi
Summary: Lightning is in need of a tutor because he neglected his academics for too long and now it’s come to bite his ass. He gets a cute tutor beloved by everyone, whom at first seemed such a delight, but he immediately learns that his tutor hates his guts and it seems like they can’t get along at all. That’s too bad, he really was cute.Lightning Stone x Radical Star fanfic.
Relationships: Lightning Stone/Radical Star





	1. That's Too Bad

Lightning isn't the smartest or dumb, he's just average. Though, most of the time, he comes in with either incomplete or half completed homework that really hecked up his academic grades. At first it wasn’t too bad to miss a couple of assignments but after some time it wasn’t something he could ignore anymore. How did it come to that? He tracks back thinking that he’d spent most of his time jamming with his band mates during his days off and he remembers watching live concerts of his favorite idol, Blue Moon the bass musician of his band. He was fantastic, spectacular, he’d send Lightning waves of excitement and joy whenever he sees them playing. It was easy to get distracted and ignore everything he was supposed to do.

So it all eventually came back to bite him, he really couldn't trust himself to be alone with his schoolwork since he knows he'll end up doing the same thing again. A bad habit that became the reason why he ended up in this little academic mess. Lightning thought about asking his teacher for help, but if he knew the system well enough, he wasn't much of a priority. If you weren’t academically successful or if you weren’t some prodigy-level student, then they would barely bat an eye at you. Plus, he would be giving his teacher too much trouble not only because their teacher would also be busy helping other students or his own work in his office space, but because he believes it was his own fault for not paying close attention to the subjects he struggled with. He's honest about it when he goes off to confront his teacher about it. It resulted with their teacher assigning a student tutor for him to make sure that Lightning actually does his work.

It was a cute colorful guy, Radical Star was his name, and he was wearing pastel themed attire, a teal almost-like tailcoat with a white sailor collar. Underneath showed a bright magenta interface with white patterns at the edge. His collar had the magenta patterns as well too. He also wore a white and yellow striped shirt, white pants adorn with diamond patterns, white knee socks and teal shoes. His hair is tied back with his left side of his bangs tucked behind his ear. His eyes were simply blue, nothing too special. Just bright looking. He gave Lightning a small smile with a slight bow, and Lightning couldn’t help but smile in return. After the teacher went over some facts, they walked outside and were on their way back to class for the remainder of their break. Lightning honestly felt a bit excited to be tutored by a cute guy but his guts immediately retracted those thoughts when he saw that Radical was no longer smiling. Despite that friendly colorful personality that he seemed to beam with earlier, once they were out of the teachers' office his smile instantly turned pretty scornful. If looks could hurt, the disapproval look on Radical's face was enough to stab at Lightning’s self esteem. Lightning thought that maybe Radical was pulled into this and couldn't say no to a teacher and actually dislike the idea of helping someone who's incompetent of completing his own work that he needed someone to babysit him. Or maybe this is like those other times where he gets judged for his looks again. Yeah he knows his sense of fashion is wack but he still thinks he looks pretty good. Still, it doesn’t mean that anyone would simply change their perception of him, especially when they don’t want to. 

During that whole mental processing, Lightning was caught off guard when Radical called him out. It wasn’t anything special, though it did confirm the latter for Lightning. He thinks to himself how it'd be nice to hear him say his actual name but then again it's understandable at this point with the obvious lack of respect in the pastel's tone.

"Every break and every day after school you'll be doing your work with me. If you complain about it and refuse to do any work so that you could waste time fooling around then I'll report everything to the teacher and you’ll either have someone new to tutor you or no one. I'm not doing this because I want to, I'm doing this because it's my responsibility."

Understandable. But it really ticked him off.

Lightning sighs irritably, thinking that this is just gonna be a pain, but hey, if they're going to establish some things right now, right here, then he'd might as well tell him a thing or two. It could just be Radical's imagination, but when Lightning turns his attention towards him to give him an icy cold deadpan look, it really did feel like the air around them went chilly and tense.

"You could've said no. That way you wouldn't have to deal with someone like me. Just quit. I don't need someone threatening me with empty words.” He huffs out another short sigh of irritation, “I asked for help, not for another problem. I'll stick around after school in the classroom the teach assigned us in." And he's walking off a few steps before stopping for a brief moment.

"I won't blame you for not coming if you really hate teaching me. Do yourself a favor and do what's best for us.'' Implying that the best for them is to never actually cross path again if things were gonna be like this. With that, Lightning walks off, back to class, greeted by his fellow classmates who gathered around him and playfully teased about possibly being grilled by their teacher. That was too bad. He really was cute.

-

Meanwhile, Radical's frowning and taking into consideration to what the nasty incompetent delinquent, music rebel said. True, he didn't have to help and Lightning gave him a choice too. Even if Lightning gives him the slip and has everything pin on him, the teachers would more than likely believe Radical telling them how unwilling Lightning is and they'll switch him.

Still, he didn't like the idea that someone else would have to deal and suffer over this boy with a ridiculous claim that he’s ‘too cool for school’. ‘ _What are you, a child?_ ’ he thinks to himself and sighs right after. Not to mention that there were also rumors circulating about him getting physically and violently involved with the seniors in a dispute, his carefree personality much like a disease when coaxing other students to fool around and miss out on their own schoolwork, sometimes coming in late too at the start of the day, sleeping in classes, even words going around that his mismatched eyes are fake and he's just doing it as a trend or some strange reasons along with his ridiculous sense of fashion, and so much more that just screams out that he doesn't care; So why is he even here? Radical will see this through and he’ll make sure to come by and pick him up so that Lightning wouldn’t be able to back down from this tutoring session.

-

When the time came around, Lightning brought out a hefty stack of packets of work he'd missed out on or to make up for it. Given his situation, he's pretty lucky he's given this chance since most schools wouldn't do this much for any students. He dreads thinking about Radical, wondering if he really wouldn't show up. He isn't close to Radical at all, but he does recall seeing him from the corner of his eyes for a few moments until he blinks and then it's like Radical melts into the world like snow. Not in a terrible Junji Ito way, but that sweet satisfied feeling you'd get from watching snow melting after it floats down from its long adventure. Either it melts into your own warmth or blends seamlessly on top of the other snow. He's cute, yes, but his attitude, that was a downside.

Either way, Lightning's sure that Radical wasn't gonna come, made the right decision to make it less of a headache for the both of them by not showing up. He sits down, flipped the first page and started filling out what he knew while skipping the ones he didn't know and just maybe going back to them when he's done. That was the problem with this habit of his. Most of the time he wouldn't look back into it but he really needs to complete everything. Although, it's hard when you don't understand and when a teacher isn't there to give you another lesson. It's hard to understand and maybe you wouldn't understand at all... and that's okay. That's how life had always been for Lightning.

But NOPE, not this time, that's another bad habit that in his given situation, he shouldn't go along with that mindset that it's okay that everything's not okay. He may already have figured out how to live with reality, but that isn't gonna help him figure out how to find the _i_ of _x_. He gives himself motivation by taking off his gloves and slapping both of his cheeks, kinda hoping that he'll get more absorbed into writing down answers if he could feel the paper and pencil better. Anything to help him keep focus.

After about 20 minutes, the door flew open and revealed Radical panting and giving Lightning such a spiteful glare.

"You're... already... here?" he huffed and puffs between his words.

"... Yeah, I... said I'd be here…?" Lightning replied, kinda surprised to see the smaller boy standing here. 

"I was trying to find you at your classroom but they said you were either cleaning up this class or that class or this and that club room, I went around in circles... until the teacher suggested that you'd be here in this classroom... waiting." He explained, a hint of surprise at the end when he really did see that Lightning was here, already scattering the other desk with finished or unfinished packets. Mismatched eyes trailed from the line of vision those blue eyes scanned over. Yikes, he’s already making a mess. Whatever. Still, he raises an eyebrow thinking about what reason and why Radical even showed up; and that he was actually looking for him.

"I thought you weren't coming," Lightning replied, voice low, calm. "I said that you can do what's best for us and that's for you to quit it so that we wouldn't have problems."

Radical shakes his head and slowly breathes in and out a few times to catch his breath.

"No, you said I should do what's best for us and I'm gonna make sure you were gonna come with me and do your work. That's why I went to find you so you wouldn't run away." Lightning couldn't help but smirk at that. 

"Oh? That's pretty nice of you despite that you really hated me. Had a change of heart?"

"No, I still don't like you, but I also don't like the idea of... not helping someone when they really do need help." It was kinda a white lie. He didn't want to make anyone go through with Lightning’s shenanigans, but he also didn't like not being able to help when he could, especially when he walked in and actually saw Lightning doing his work. The fashion-disaster boy gave him a shrug, paid no mind, and turned back to his work.

"I'll let you know when I need help. You can just sit there and read a book or something." He shooed him and it irks Radical a bit more.

"Ugh, fine, but first take off your contacts. It's not safe to study with dry eyes while wearing them." That snapped Lightning back to him with a confused look on his face.

"What contacts?"

"The one you're wearing? The... blue? Or is it red?"

"I'm not... wearing contacts."

It was a few moments of silence before Lightning recoiled and let out a laugh that actually sounded really pleasing to hear. Mister fashion disaster turns to him, gets up and leans over at him, telling him in a playful tone, "If you don't believe me, you can go ahead and take a look."

It was kinda hard to focus so Radical instinctively brought his hands up to hold Lightning's face in place. "Hold still..."

Radical scans over those eyes and it really puzzled him on how different they are. Mostly colors of course, but when he's leaning in for a closer look, he could see faint specks of blue in the red eye and vice versa in the blue eye. Wow... they really are-

"Pretty..." he whispered, not noticing how intimate he sounded.

He snaps back to reality when he hears Lightning giving him a hum of both amusement and approval. He realized he was so close and backs off completely with both hands up defensively. Lightning gives another light laugh and sits back down, shuffling back into his seat.

“Thanks,” he replied, flashing him a smile, “Nicest thing you said to me all day.”

“I’d said I’d help you. That’s nice already.”

“Hmm, yeah, but I like that one better,” he lightly laughs again before slightly shifting so that he’s facing Radical. Leaning on his desk with his head resting on the palm of one hand and tapping his pencil to get Radical’s attention.

“If you want, you can have another look next time.” Radical clicked his tongue, thinking that Lightning must be purposely dragging this out.

“No way. If this is another one of your tricks to not do your work, it wont work on me. Get back to work.”

“Ah, yes sir.” He smiled again, went back to work, and only to stop once again get Radical’s attention again. “I do that a lot, you know. Stopping a lot, talking, and then sometimes forgetting to go back to it.”

“You’re telling me because…?”

“It’s a bad habit of mine. Because I do it a lot, I ended up like this. So… Radical, be sure to keep me on track, okay?” Lightning said with a spark in his eyes and another bright smile. It wasn’t bad and it wasn’t to mock him, Radical knows that. He wouldn’t lie if he isn’t relieved that they’re on good terms right now too. He puffs up his chest and points at the Blue boy’s packet of papers again.

“I’ll tidy it up, just get going.” With that, Lightning nodded and went back to his assignments. It wasn’t long for Lightning to call Radical over _again_. “What is it now?”

“I need help.” The boy in black and blue said and tapped at the questions he had previously skipped over. 

“You’re hopeless….” The pastel boy grumbled and took a look at his paper. “But… I’ll help you out.” He says with a slight pause in between. Perhaps he was trying to be a little nicer to him.

“That’s why I need you.” He said in the same intimate tone that Radical had spoken in earlier. And strangely those words seem to shoot Radical right in the heart. It was… very nice to hear that.

“Of course, I’m in charge of you,” he reminded him of who was the one with more authority over this tutoring session. Lightning gives him another soft grin before responding back a hearty, “Thanks.”

Radical hums back in response and goes back to teaching him. Lightning’s pretty happy and he thinks to himself that maybe it’ll work out. Maybe it was another bad habit or maybe by coincidence, but he had forgotten that his hands weren’t covered. 

And Radical was able to see those faint scars that laced over those wrists.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn’t really a first fanfiction, but it is a first for me to post here since I'm more used to talking about it as an idea- and then leaving it be, but after reading a really cute warm fluff, it just made me want to try! I apologize for any grammar mistakes or stuff- I am but a nugget with 2 brain cells with a writing knowledge of a 10 year old lol  
> But thanks so much for giving this a read!!


	2. Too Much

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Do you really hate it that much? You’re the one who needs it and you came to me for help.” Lightning shook his head and scrunched up his face thinking and trying to form words.  
> “I never said I hated it-”  
> “Your face says it!” Lightning slightly tilted his head to the side and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand as if to massage a nick, perhaps indicating a sense of unease.

It’s been a few days since they started this routine where Radical seeks out Lightning during their free time and then meets up every day after school to finish those packets (along with new ones assigned). It was pretty annoying since he’s not used to having a tutor like him on his back like this every now and then. The boy with the checkered headband grumbles as he scratches his head from thinking about how slightly overwhelming things have been lately. There was also another annoying thing about this whole situation. He really disliked how busy he’s been that he’s not able to put in time with his band and other activities. 

Not only that, Lightning hasn’t actually made any progress with his own work. He was hoping to finish at least one set of his assignments so that he would have enough free time to do his own stuff. He didn’t quite understand Radical’s explanation to him that this was as easy as counting 1, 2, 3. If it was that easy, then he wouldn’t have any problems at all or even need a tutor. Lightning waited in the room for the blonde pastel boy, wanting to talk to him more about what they can do to see if they can work things out so that it’s less confusing. He could just ask his teacher but he feels a little petty about it since Radical was very insistent on being responsible for him. 

A sigh escapes his lips and he’s tapping the pencil on the desk while stealing glances at the door every few minutes now and then to see when his tutor comes in. It didn’t take long for the pastel boy in a teal coat to come sliding into the room. Lightning gives him a light greeting as Radical sets his stuff aside and pulls out a piece of paper he had scribbled onto during class.

“Here.” He hands it over to Lightning and the latter briefly scans over it. It was pretty much a timeline he was supposed to follow for all of their sessions. Right from the start of the day down to after school. Lightning frowns over it because it felt like it was a little too much and too little freedom.

“Uh, Radical…?” He paused for a moment and averted his gaze from the piece of paper in his hands up to Radical, who was now standing with both his hands resting at his hips. “Don’t you think this is… a little too much?” That question coaxed a raised brow and a shrug from his cute tutor.

“What do you mean by that? I think you could do it.” Hearing that earned another sigh exhaling from Lightning as he shook his head.

“No way. It’s too much. I’m busy during some of these days and even during breaks.” It sounded less convincing to Radical that he’s scoffing at Lightning’s reply. “I’m too busy to be on this agenda, especially at the rate I’m going. And I’m sure you notice too. I’m not able to actually get anything done.” 

Radical lets out a soft low hum as he takes the paper from his student with a frown. “I suppose I can work things out…. If only you’d taken it more seriously, you’d have more time to do your own things. Right now you still need to focus more on your studies.” Lightning can’t help but let out another aggravated sigh from his lips after hearing a mini lecture from Radical. “Okay, let’s put a hold on today and work on an agenda that you can follow, okay? Tell me what your activities are, we’ll start from that.”

Lightning starts telling him about his daily and weekly activities, unimpressively, it involved mostly spending all those time procrastinating by watching DVD lives of Blue Moon’s concerts or music videos, tuning and doing maintenance on his instruments since he plays them so often, helping out with his neighbors doing simple errands, and spending lots of time with his bandmates too whether or not they’re actually practicing or playing at gigs together. Truthfully, when you look at it, he didn’t really do or had much to do that seemed important. Especially since he can easily be covered by his friends for all those simple tasks. The only thing he would be missing out on is having less time to be entertaining himself. Lightning furrows his brows when he admits to Radical that he didn’t have much to do, which earns a triumphant smile that spreads across the latter’s face. Radical reassures him that it’ll be okay. He’ll tweak the daily tasks and add a quota so that Lightning will be able to have a clear understanding of what he ought to do and how much he can. It’s not to say that it’ll be set in stone, it’s only just to see how far Lightning can go so they can make more revisions to it next time. He’d figured it’ll be ready by tomorrow and tells him to find him in the morning. Lightning gives him his appreciation and thanks him for it.

-

Radical was walking to school with Lyrical by his side and he’s giving her a light chat about what he was working on with Lightning. More like, lightly venting about how lost Lightning is that he needs a times table to help him know what to do. It really is as easy as counting 1, 2, 3; Pay attention, learn the subject, and do it. Lightning’s just… stuck.

Once they reach the front of the gate, Radical gives his companion a waving gesture, indicating for her to continue on without him, and leaned against the wall as he’s looking out for that black, blue, and blond boy. It didn’t take long to spot him among the crowd. Radical can see him laughing and playfully hanging onto his friends. He was about to call out for him but that idea made him feel out of place. It also felt unapproachable. Radical didn’t escape Lightning’s view though. The moment their eyes met, Lightning instantly clicked like a light switch and turned all his attention to Radical. He dismissed his friends as well and pats Radical’s shoulder. Radical opened his bag and gave him the new agenda; which Lightning gives it another quick glance only to end up pursing his lips, signifying an disapproval look on his face. That only made Radical feeling more vexed by the whole thing.

“Do you really hate it that much? You’re the one who needs it  _ and _ you came to me for help.” Lightning shook his head and scrunched up his face thinking and trying to form words.

“I never said I hated it-”

“Your face says it!” Lightning slightly tilted his head to the side and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand as if to massage a nick, perhaps indicating a sense of unease.

“Ah, no, I just… hmm… Do you really think I can do it? Following this schedule every day? I’m not really smart and I might not learn things fast enough even with your help. I… don’t want to disappoint you when I’m not able to meet up to these standards.” It was honestly a little surprising to hear that even Lightning can be a bit bothered by that. Who would’ve thought that Lightning could feel pressured by expectations. Radical figured that Lightning was the kind of guy that didn’t care if he couldn’t live up to standards; and he still gives off that feeling too.

“Don’t worry too much about it. Everyone learns at a different pace and this is only set up to help and see how far you can go. We can work on that and make a better agenda later on. Just do your best, okay?” He replied and gave the other a light pat on his back to help encourage his reassurance. A smile curled at Lightning’s lips and it prompts him to pet Radical’s head in return.

“Yeah, thanks. I’ll make you proud!” Hearing that made Radical feel a bit happy. He didn’t really understand or thought more to it, it just felt good. Good enough that it even made him hold his breath for a moment to really let that feeling sink in.

Lightning takes the packets from the smaller boy and shoves it in his bag before patting any dust and dirt off of him, “Yeah, I’ll see you soon, Rad!”

“Rad…?” Again with that strange complicated feeling hearing his voice resonate with such a blissful tone. Lightning eyes narrowed as he scratched his head and rubbed the back of his neck again.

“Do you dislike that?” The teal boy shakes his head and lightly shrugs it off. 

“No, it’s okay. I’m not used to being called that other than my own friends and I didn’t think we were close enough.”

“Well, helping me out means a lot to me even though we had a bad start. It doesn’t change the fact that you still went ahead and beyond helping me out too. I appreciate it a lot, really. It’s clear enough for me to know that you’re a good reliable guy who’s just looking out for me. Still... does it bother you…?” He gives him a concerned but curious look as he waits for what the other has to say.

Radical shakes his head again and says, “No, it doesn’t bother me, you can call me Rad if you want.” It prompts Lightning to give another candid laugh as he pats his head again.

“Yeah, and if you want, you can call me Light.”

“Light?” Lightning nods and flashes him another smile that pauses Radical’s breath once more.

“Yep! Sounds great!”

Lightning was able to follow their schedule and he did pretty well now that he knew what he had to do and how much he could do with Radical helping and teaching him along the way. He was able to meet the daily quota with ease and even fulfill this week’s quota as well. Lightning felt very happy and proud of himself for his accomplishments. It left him feeling a tad bit embarrassed when he was praised by his cute tutor; enough for him to pull down his headband to hide his own face from the first time. He learned that he very much likes getting praised by Radical. The sour look that his tutor used to give him was now often replaced by a soft glowing smile that radiates Lightning’s insides. It became one of his new goals to keep up the good work so he could keep getting those smiles as rewards. He isn’t sure how to explain it, it just felt right, it felt good, and it pushed him to exceed his quotas. For Radical, he can only assume that Lightning’s become more accustomed and relaxed with him since he’s smiling a lot more these days. It’s nothing to complain about, it was nice. They can actually get along without any issues.

-

Radical continued on his day normally until the end where he’s waiting for Lightning at the designated classroom. He’d figured the other was running just a tad bit late until too much time had passed for Radical to find it acceptable. A worried feeling enveloped his heart and so he gathered up his stuff and made his way begrudgingly towards Lightning’s homeroom. He knows that Lightning was here today so he’d better have a good excuse for why he’s running late. By the time he gets to Lightning’s room, he opens the door, seeing some of the remaining students cleaning up, but no sight of the fashion disaster boy. The irritated and angry look on his face was enough for those students to guess what his question was. They had seen Radical often enough to know that he’s always looking for and hanging out with Lightning.

“If you’re looking for Lightning, he’s in the nurse’s office.” Hearing this alarmed Radical and he immediately shoots a look at the student with concerns. 

“Why?” 

“W-well, we were doing a mock exam and suddenly he just got up and covered his face! He was trying to say something but since he covered both of his hands, no one could understand him. Everyone thought he was making a fool out of himself trying to get out of a test, but his desk neighbor said his paper had blood on it! He had a nosebleed. The teacher came over and everyone saw that he was trying to keep himself from bleeding from his nose. He was bleeding a lot… so they sent him to the nurse’s office.” Radical quickly gives them his thanks and goes off towards the office.

He opens the door and his worries were washed away when he sees Lightning babbling about how he thinks he’s dying because he never bled so much before. As disgusting as it looks, he has a small trash bin next to him nearly filled with blood-stained tissues. Kneeling in front of him is the nurse giving him another new set of tissues for his nose. Despite that he was worried about Lightning a moment ago, he can’t help but snicker at how childish he looks with the nurse treating him like a little kid. With a snuffled sound, Lightning tilted his head towards where the sound was and he happily greeted him with a smile that was half hidden by his hand on his face.

“Nhy Nhrad!” The latter gave him a dismissive wave when he approached them and turned his attention to the nurse. 

“What’s wrong? I heard he came in because of a nosebleed.”

“Yes, it was due to stress that caused him to have one as well as a lack of sleep. It’s nothing too serious at the moment, but I would still advise him to take a break or to lighten up the load on him. I’ll write a note to his teachers about it, given his situation. Please stay with him until he feels better enough to go home without any issues.” They replied as they stood up and walked out of the room.

“How long has it been? Is it that bad that you’ve been bleeding throughout all that time?” Lightning was explaining it to him, but he was too muffled that Radical couldn’t understand him. It prompts the student tutor to give him a new wad of tissue along with a lecture on applying less pressure to his nose. Lightning took the new wad of tissues and threw away the old bloodied one in his trash. He happily listened to Radical with a wide grin plastered on his face.

“Well, it started out really bad but now it’s really small. Though, it still hasn’t stopped bleeding but I think it’s all good now?” He took a little peek at his wad of tissues, still bleeding, and shoved it back onto his face with another noticeably loud smack; until Lightning remembered to apply the right amount of pressure again so he’d still be able to sound comprehensible.

Radical can’t help but laugh at that, “Says the guy that was crying like a baby to the nurse about how they think they’re dying.” That earns him a frown from Lightning, not that Radical could see much of it, though it did bring his attention to Lightning’s arms and he recalled what he had seen last time. However, they’re covered up by bandages and that prompts Radical to instinctively look away and question it. “Your gloves, did you have to throw them away? I heard they got dirtied.”

The blond and blue boy glanced at a sealed bag that had his dirtied gloves in it and was set off to the side. “No, they’re too important to me to throw them away. It’s nothing to worry about and the blood didn’t get on the fuzzies. I’ll give them a wash when I get home.”

“Okay, and I’ll walk you home for today. I’ll also redo the whole list too. You need to make sure to hold back and take breaks, okay?”

“Hmm, I think I’ll be fine, I can keep going. Because if I can finish this and three more packets within the next week, then I should be caught up in time for me to spend a week or two on my band activities.” Radical gives him such a puzzled look at that strange estimation Lightning had explained to him. A thin line formed across his mouth as he tapped the latter’s head with a thick stack of paper after pulling them out of his school bag.

“Drop it. If you push yourself too hard, you’ll do more harm to yourself and complicate things. Take the weekend off to relax at least.” There was a look in Radical’s blue eyes that pleaded for Lightning to at least listen to him, and that definitely didn’t go unnoticed.

“Aw, worried about me?” Lightning teased, stretching out of his seat and glancing at Radical with a grin. That prompts Radical to tap the stack in his hands on the other’s head again.

“I told you before, I’m responsible for you and it wouldn’t sit well knowing that I didn’t stop you if you were to really burn yourself out from studying too much with me.”

“Heh, thank you,” Lighting replied in a silly sing-song voice, not to mock him, but just another playful response. “I think I’m okay so we can head out before it gets too late.”

“Hey, at least promise me not to over do it, okay? I don’t want you to hurt yourself like that again. Yeah, your academic studies are important but it’s not as important as your own health. So.. don’t do that again.” He didn’t think to ask why Lightning had pushed himself to that extent. He was worried and it had him thinking that if he hadn’t said anything and Lightning gets hurt, he’d be really upset. Lightning gives him another smile and nods.

“Ah… sure, I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks, Rad.” With that, they gathered up their stuff and headed out of the building. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> writing is hard oof-  
> Thanks again for giving it a read!!


End file.
